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3872. The Economic Impact of International Students from a Cross-National Perspective
- Author:
- Robert Gutierrez, Patricia Chow, Jason Baumgartner, and Yuriko Sato
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Institute of International Education
- Abstract:
- IIE Open Doors Data on U.S. International Educational Exchange. Project Atlas: Global Student Mobility. International Student Economic Impact in the U.S. Comparison of International Student Economic Impact in USA, Japan and Australia.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Economics, Markets, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, Asia, California, Australia, and Texas
3873. Massachusetts Miracle or Massachusetts Miserable: What the Failure of the "Massachusetts Model" Tells Us about Health Care Reform
- Author:
- Michael Tanner
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- When Massachusetts passed its pioneering health care reforms in 2006, critics warned that they would result in a slow but steady spiral downward toward a government-run health care system. Three years later, those predictions appear to be coming true: Although the state has reduced the number of residents without health insurance, 200,000people remain uninsured. Moreover, the increase in the number of insured is primarily due to the state's generous subsidies, not the celebrated individual mandate. Health care costs continue to rise much faster than the national average. Since 2006, total state health care spending has increased by28 percent. Insurance premiums have increased by 8–10 percent per year, nearly double the national average. New regulations and bureaucracy are limiting consumer choice and adding to healthcare costs. Program costs have skyrocketed. Despite tax increases, the program faces huge deficits. The state is considering caps on insurance premiums, cuts in reimbursements to providers, and even the possibility of a “global budget” on health care spending—with its attendant rationing. A shortage of providers, combined with increased demand, is increasing waiting times to see a physician. With the “Massachusetts model” frequently cited as a blueprint for health care reform, it is important to recognize that giving the government greater control over our health care system will have grave consequences for taxpayers, providers, and health care consumers. That is the lesson of the Massachusetts model.
- Topic:
- Health, Human Welfare, Markets, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States
3874. Somalia: The Trouble with Puntland
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The semi-autonomous north-eastern Somali region of Puntland, once touted as a success of the “building blocks” approach to reestablishing national stability and widely viewed as one of the most prosperous parts of Somalia, is experiencing a three-year rise in insecurity and political tension. At its roots are poor governance and a collapse of the intra-clan cohesion and pan-Darood solidarity that led to its creation in 1998. Intra-Darood friction has eroded the consensual style of politics that once underpinned a relative stability. The piracy problem is a dramatic symptom of deeper problems that, left untreated, could lead to Puntland's disintegration or overthrow by an underground militant Islamist movement. A solution to the security threat requires the Puntland government to institute reforms that would make it more transparent and inclusive of all clans living within the region.
- Topic:
- Security, Political Violence, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Somalia, and Puntland
3875. Setting the NAFTA Agenda on Climate Change
- Author:
- Jeffrey J. Schott and Meera Fickling
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into force 15 years ago, environmental issues were an afterthought appended to a side accord, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). Today, environmental problems loom large on the global agenda, and climate change, in particular, ranks among the top issues on the North American agenda as the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico convene in Guadalajara in August 2009. This policy brief examines the implications for NAFTA of national policies in the three countries to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and suggests steps that the partner countries can take together to further both their economic and environmental goals.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Canada, North America, and Mexico
3876. The Economics of Energy Efficiency in Buildings
- Author:
- Trevor Houser
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- At the 2008 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, and again in 2009 in L'Aquila, Italy, G-8 leaders called for a 50 percent global reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below current levels by 2050 to avoid “the most serious consequences of climate change.” Meeting this goal will require transforming the way energy is produced, delivered, and consumed across all sectors of the economy and regions of the world. Buildings, which account for nearly 40 percent of global energy demand today and 30 percent of projected growth in energy demand between now and 2050, will play a critical role in this process (IEA 200).
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Italy
3877. Pacific Asia and the Asia Pacific: The Choices for APEC
- Author:
- C. Fred Bergsten
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum comprises 21 developed and developing economies that surround the Pacific Rim. The organization was created in 1989 and holds annual Leaders' Meetings that bring together its heads of government. In this policy brief, I assess the record of the APEC over the 20 years of its existence and discuss the world environment in which APEC is likely to be operating in the next 20 years, with a particular focus on the major change in global institutional arrangements implied by the replacement of the Group of Seven/Eight (G-7/8) by the Group of Twenty (G-20) as the chief steering committee for the world economy and, within that group and other international economic organizations, the increasingly central role of an informal and de facto Group of Two (G-2) between China and the United States.
- Topic:
- International Relations, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Asia, and Australia/Pacific
3878. India-Pakistan Trade: A Roadmap for Enhancing Economic Relations
- Author:
- Mohsin S. Khan
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Many previous attempts to improve economic ties between India and Pakistan unfortunately have been derailed by periodically heightened political tensions between the two countries—be it Kargil in May 1999, the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, or most recently, the Mumbai attacks in November 2008. Although successive Indian and Pakistani governments have often repeated the desire for peaceful relations, reaching a comprehensive agree ment that settles outstanding disputes still seems far off. But this does not mean that steps toward better economic relations cannot be taken. Indeed, there was a major breakthrough in trade relations at the meeting between then President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India in New Delhi in April 2005 (Joint Communiqué 2005). A number of trade-related issues were discussed at this meeting, and several key decisions were taken to move the process along.
- Topic:
- Economics, Peace Studies, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, Asia, and New Delhi
3879. China's Changing Outbound Foreign Direct Investment Profile: Drivers and Policy Implications
- Author:
- Daniel H. Rosen and Thilo Hanemann
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- In 1967 Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber published Le defi americain, a call to beware of American multinationals buying up the world. In the 1980s and 1990s it was Japan's turn, spawning books like Clyde Prestowitz's 1993 Trading Places: How We Are Giving Our Future to Japan. Today it is China's outbound foreign direct investment (OFDI) that elicits the most anxiety China's OFDI has reached commercially and geoeconomically significant levels and begun to challenge international investment norms and affect international relations.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China, America, and Asia
3880. A Solution for Europe's Banking Problem
- Author:
- Adam S. Posen and Nicolas Véron
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Since mid-2007, public authorities in the European Union have broadly met the challenge of ensuring a functional degree of liquidity and preventing financial meltdown. The Eurosystem has even been ahead of the curve compared with the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England in discounting early on a wide variety of assets to a range of counterparties. However, despite unprecedented central bank intervention, extensive government guarantees since October 2008, and macroeconomic assistance (with the International Monetary Fund) to the European Union's weakest member states, the underlying state of continental Europe's banking industry remains very fragile.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, and Europe